Bérangère Maximin - Dangerous Orbits (2015)

A sonic sculptress of exceptional quality, 'Dangerous Orbits' is Bérangère Maximin's fourth album, and her first for Crammed Discs' Made to Measure series.
Maximin started out in an academic environment with an electroacoustic training, and has gradually incorporated the contribution of post-punk, dub and sound art experiments to develop a hyper-personal style, producing sensual, hypnotic, sultry pieces with immediate impact.

Maximin moved from her native Reunion Island to France when she was fifteen, and studied with the musique concrète composer Denis Dufour (a member of the famous GRM and a pupil of Pierre Schaeffer). Her first album came out on John Zorn's label Tzadik.

Bérangère naturally drew inspiration from composers such as François Bayle, Luc Ferrari, Eliane Radigue and has also listened to a lot of early electronica and glitch music. She went on to develop her own approach, both to studio recording and to live performance, taking in the experiences gathered in the course of her collaborations with the likes of Fennesz, Rhys Chatham, Richard Pinhas and Fred Frith (with whom she played several duet concerts).

Maximin's music engages the listener in considerations of space and textures. 'Dangerous Orbits' takes us in a constant sway between lightness and drama. Curving filigree voices, odd melodies, powerful sub-bass, spacious drones, oceanic vibrations and orchestral bursts flow with evident motricity into a world which is together multidimensional, effusive and raw.

"A master manipulator of space and distance…that sounds like Maximin sucking the listener's brain up through a straw." - Rock-A-Rolla